Cost of Raising Kids Swells to $300,000
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Here's your money briefing for Monday, August 29th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. If it seems like it's getting more expensive to raise kids these days, that's because it is. When you factor in inflation, a recent study put the cost of raising a child through age 17 at more than $300,000.
Yeah, I mean, you think about the cost of kids and you think about like tired families pushing the carts through Target and Walmart and Bye Bye Baby.
But it turns out food, clothing, or even baby products aren't the main culprits when it comes to the cost of raising a family. On today's show, we'll talk with Josh Zumbrun. He writes the WSJ's numbers column. We'll discuss the cost of raising kids and how families can keep some of those costs in check. That's after the break.
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How did the episode introduce the $300,000 estimate for raising a child?
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It's getting harder and harder for parents to make ends meet. The back-to-school shopping trips, the gas to get there, even the weekly grocery bill are all stark reminders of how expensive it can be to raise children. And as expensive as those necessities are, they mask much bigger factors that weigh on household budgets. Josh Zombrun writes the numbers column for the WSJ, and he studied a report from the Brookings Institution that puts the cost of raising kids right up to high school graduation at about $300,000. And he joins me to talk about it. Hey, Josh, thank you for being with us. Thanks so much for having me. So, Josh, rising inflation has touched so many aspects of our lives and our personal finances, but how has it driven up the cost specifically of raising kids?
Yeah, I mean, it's affected almost everything that you use when you're raising kids, right? I mean, diapers, clothes, food, formula, all these things have jumped in price, and it's how we've hit that $300,000 figure for the cost of raising a kid.
Now, of course, every family is different, but what are some factors that can push costs close to or even well above $300,000?
Yeah, I mean, you think about the cost of kids and you think about like tired families pushing the carts through Target and Walmart and Bye Bye Baby. And, you know, that stuff certainly can add up over time. But actually, what people who have studied this have found is that there's two things that really stand out as the big drivers and they're not stuff you buy in the store. It's housing. It's the cost of having a space large enough to have a child. That's the single biggest factor in that estimate of the cost of raising kids. And then the other thing, especially in the early years, is the cost of child care, you know, daycare for many families, incredibly expensive in those years before kids get into school.
Yeah, let's talk a little more about child care and housing. How are they measured, and how are they different from family to family, and why is that significant?
Yeah, this is really interesting and really important when you think about this estimate. So when it comes to housing, what the USDA does, it's an interesting little method, is they look at what is the average cost of getting an extra bedroom.
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